The ''Liber Ignium ad Comburendos Hostes'' (translated as ''On the Use of Fire to Conflagrate the Enemy'', or ''Book of Fires for the Burning of Enemies'', and abbreviated as ''Book of Fires'') is a
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
collection of
recipes for
incendiary weapons
Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires. They may destroy structures or sensitive equipment using fire, and sometimes operate as anti-personnel weapon, anti-personnel ...
, including
Greek fire
Greek fire was an incendiary weapon system used by the Byzantine Empire from the seventh to the fourteenth centuries. The recipe for Greek fire was a closely-guarded state secret; historians have variously speculated that it was based on saltp ...
and
gunpowder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...
, written in
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
and allegedly written by a certain Marcus Graecus ("Mark the Greek")—a person whose existence is debated by scholars. The work has been subjected to numerous academic
analyses, resulting in contradictory conclusions vis-a-vis origin and influence on its contemporaries.
[Partington, James Riddick. A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998, pp. 58-60]
One of the most influential studies of the ''Liber Ignium'' was conducted by
Marcellin Berthelot which is cited in 20th century works on the topic.
Contents
The ''Liber Ignium'' is a collection of 35 recipes without any internal classification, as it was typical of "secret recipe" list of the era.
Of these, 14 are related to warfare, 11 with lamps and lights, 6 with the prevention and treatment of burns, and 4 with the preparation of
chemicals
A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...
, chiefly
saltpetre
Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with a sharp, salty, bitter taste and the chemical formula . It is a potassium salt of nitric acid. This salt consists of potassium cations and nitrate anions , and is therefore an alkali metal nitrate ...
. Some recipes were found to be worthless.
Recipe no. 14 contains advice for the harvesting and processing of saltpeter. In Berthelot's interpretation, it says: "saltpeter is a mineral of the earth, and is found as an efflorescence on stones. This earth is dissolved in boiling water, then purified and passed through a filter. It is boiled for a day and a night and solidified, so that transparent plates of the salt are found at the bottom of the vessel."
Furthermore, there are four recipes (nos. 12, 13, 32, and 33) that describe mixtures resembling gunpowder.
Origins and influence on contemporaries
The premillennial
Byzantine Greek
Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic; Greek: ) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the F ...
origin of the text has been rejected by scholars, who date it to the late 13th century.
Study of the text has suggested that it was originally translated from
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
, possibly by a person from
Moorish Spain
Al-Andalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most o ...
.
[Pan, Jixing. ''On the Origin of Rockets'', T'oung Pao, Vol. 73, pg. 5–6][Dana, Charles E., Notes on Cannon-Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'', Vol. 50, pg. 149] Joseph Needham
Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, initia ...
says that the text is probably translated from Arabic by Jewish scholars in Spain. It contains several Arabic and Spanish words that are untranslated while several of the recipes for "automatic fire" and "oil of bricks" are identical to Arabic ones from the 12th century.
The influence the ''Liber Ignium'' had on
Roger Bacon
Roger Bacon (; or ', also '' Rogerus''; ), also known by the Scholastic accolades, scholastic accolade ''Doctor Mirabilis'', was a medieval English polymath, philosopher, scientist, theologian and Franciscans, Franciscan friar who placed co ...
and
Albertus Magnus
Albertus Magnus ( 1200 – 15 November 1280), also known as Saint Albert the Great, Albert of Swabia, Albert von Bollstadt, or Albert of Cologne, was a German Dominican friar, philosopher, scientist, and bishop, considered one of the great ...
has been debated. Early scholars like the 18th-century scientist
Johann Beckmann thought that both men had read and quoted it, but others have claimed that all three were based on a common source.
writes that while the ''Liber Ignium'' contents can be traced back to Arabic and Chinese texts, the work of Bacon appears to represent a parallel tradition, especially because the decoded formulas of Bacon contain considerably less nitrate.
References
Bibliography
*
{{Alchemy, state=expanded
Alchemical documents
13th-century manuscripts
13th-century books in Latin